Mountains & peaks

Wysoka in the Pieniny Mountains

Wysoka, officially recorded as Wysokie Skałki, rises to 1050 m in the ridge of the Małe Pieniny and is the highest summit of the entire Pieniny Mountains and of the Pieniny Klippen Belt. The Polish-Slovak border runs across its top: the summit itself lies within the Slovak national park, right next to Poland's Pieniny National Park. It features in the Crown of Polish Mountains, and the hill was once also called Kiczera or Pamiarky — Lemko names.

How to climb it

The shortest and most popular route follows the green trail from Jaworki through the Homole Gorge — the ravine is about 800 m long with walls exceeding 100 m, ending at Dubantowska Polana. The loop through Homole with a descent past the shelter below Durbaszka makes 9.4 km and about 3.5 hours. Longer variants: the yellow trail from Jaworki through the Biała Woda reserve, continuing on the blue trail, and the yellow one from Szczawnica along the ridge of the Małe Pieniny. Sections of the border stretch of the blue trail are climbed on metal stairs.

On the summit

At the top await a metal plaque, a stamp and very little space — in high season it gets crowded. The reward is a panorama taking in the Three Crowns, the Radziejowa range, the mountains on the Slovak side and the Tatras; along the way you pass Kapralowa Wysoka (935 m), Borsuczyny (939 m) and Durbaszka (934 m). Parking at the mouth of the gorge in Jaworki costs PLN 5 per hour or PLN 30 per day.